What of Our Nature brings together idiosyncratic American indie folk singer/songwriters Haley Heynderickx and Max García Conover, who were inspired to write it after a deep dive into the life and writings of folk legend Woody Guthrie (who, as a reminder, initially rose to fame in the 1930s). It’s not the first time they’ve worked together: the two paired up for the six-song Among Horses III in 2018. Here, again, Heynderickx’s warm, eloquent observations both complement and contrast García Conover’s more angular, outspoken style. Both can be said to have a way with words. In Guthrie, the friends found conspicuous commonalities with not only present-day politics but with their own experiences at the intersection of the political and personal. The resulting album…
Category: indie
For a band often frozen in the public imagination as ’90s indie heroes, James have spent over four decades proving they are far more than that label suggests. Formed in 1982, the Manchester group have released 18 albums, survived industry shifts, internal upheavals, and even a five-year hiatus, emerging stronger than ever with their first No.1 studio album Yummy in 2024.
It makes sense, then, that now is the moment for a definitive look back — and Nothing But Love arrives with exactly that ambition.
This new 58-track anthology aims to be the most complete document of James’ single-driven journey to date. Where 1998’s The Best Of delivered chart success but left significant holes, and 2007’s Fresh as a Daisy: The Singles…
Matt Berry release a box set of his recent album, Heard Noises, featuring 10 remixes and four additional songs from the sessions. Berry’s 13th long-player, Heard Noises became his first to make the Top 30 on its release in January, reaching No 22. Guests on the album include Kitty Liv of Kitty, Daisy And Lewis, Sax Appeal bassist Phil Scragg, Eric D Johnson of Fruit Bats and Orange Is The New Black actor Natasha Lyonne.
The box set features a remix LP, with reworkings by Sean Ono Lennon, Andy Votel, Tennis, ex-Skint Records head Midfield General, Rodeo Clown, Brian Kehew, Project Gemini and – in their first remix for 25 years – Moog Cookbook, aka Brian Kehew and Roger Manning. Further remixes by Ono Lennon and Project Gemini are included on the…
Despite all your rage, you are still just a reader on a post about a new expansion of one of The Smashing Pumpkins’ biggest albums. The iconoclastic band will reissue Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness this fall for its 30th anniversary, pairing the original, sprawling album with a new double album of unreleased live performances on the band’s ensuing tour in support of the record.
Conceived from the outset as a double album – frontman Billy Corgan described the 2CD set as “The Wall for Generation X” – Mellon Collie represents part of the band’s most prolific era and commercial apex. Working with the best-known line-up of the group (guitarist James Iha, bassist D’arcy Wretzky and drummer Jimmy Chamberlain) plus producers Flood and Alan Moulder…
This live set compiles the best performances and unique recordings that were all part of our big Flood celebration tour across the US over the last few years, presented in alphabetical order.
The selections include the live-in-reverse stelluB followed by the reversed version of the same performance, as well as the unique recordings of the songs They Might Be Giants and Hearing Aid that were featured in the video material of the live show.
This album was a pleasure to put together, and everyone in the band really shines.
Special thanks to A&R man Marty Beller and mixing engineer Scott Bozack for their eternal patience, and a hearty hat tip to Robert Vosgien for mastering.
…remastered from original tapes, and comprises three previously-unreleased tracks, two rare cuts, and live version.
A milestone in post-punk experimentation, Desire captures Tuxedomoon at their most cinematic and atmospheric. Its mood of haunted romanticism and its category-defying blend of music have kept it influential among generations of musicians exploring the intersections of rock, electronic music, cabaret, minimal, jazz and classical music.
Desire was written just before the band’s relocation from San Francisco to Europe. It was recorded in the UK and released in 1981 on Ralph Records, The Residents’ own label, before being reissued in 1987 on CramBoy, the imprint created by Crammed Discs to host the band’s output.
…include a new remastered version of the original album, a disc of rarities and a CD featuring a live show from that year.
One in the winter of 1983, Paul Westerberg – singer, guitarist and songwriting leader of Minneapolis trouble boys The Replacements – phoned manager Peter Jesperson with hot news: “I just wrote the best song I’ve ever written, and we need to record it right away.” Jesperson said there was no rush; the band’s second album, Hootenanny, had just gone to the pressing plant.
Jesperson soon heard why Westerberg was so excited. During a gig at a local club, the singer, drummer Chris Mars, lead guitarist Bob Stinson and Bob’s teenage brother, bassist Tommy Stinson, lit into “a bouncy tune I didn’t…
Keaton Henson is a master of dark introspection and unashamed vulnerability, a 21st century manifestation of what used to be called bed-sit blues. There isn’t a shred of extrovert joy in his latest album, where he explores, with forensic authenticity and a gift for poetic lyrics, a miasma of self-doubt, regret and resignation. “Don’t I just know how to fuck things up” he sings, almost mantra-like. It’s very British, this gentle and almost whimsical self-deprecation, but unless you’re seeking a homeopathic remedy – in which like cures like– for you own despair, this might be an album to avoid.
This isn’t to say that Henson’s vibe is toxic in any way, for there are several gems here, in a collection of songs which take a new turn…
Wet glass is a slippery substance, and so, too, is this second album from North Carolina’s verity den. This home-recorded follow-up to the 2024 debut sidles fluidly between dark, muscular shoegaze, pristine and delicate dream pop and fuzz-hazed space rock. A nod to Yo La Tengo’s slowest, most ambient soundscapes leads into Sonic Youth-style guitar ruckus; the haze of prime Loveless effects storms makes way for 1990s 4AD dream-state reveries.
It’s all denser, better thought-out and more impressive that that strong first album, pieced together as it was out of demos. This one brings touring drummer Reed Benjamin on as a full-time member, giving the songs an increased heft and power. It’s too soon to call Wet Glass…
It has been announced that YMO 1979 Trans Atlantic Tour Live Anthology, the first live box set to compile audio and video recordings from the five concerts held in four cities during Yellow Magic Orchestra’s 1979 world tour, will released on April 2025.
In 1978, Yellow Magic Orchestra made their debut on Alfa Records (as it was then known) with the album Yellow Magic Orchestra. The following August, they performed their first overseas concert at The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, where the show was recorded live and filmed. Later that fall, they embarked on the Trans Atlantic Tour, becoming the first Japanese band to undertake such a world tour. Transporting more than 1.5 tons of equipment, they performed seven shows across three countries- the UK, France, and the East Coast of the United States-true to the tour’s name, “Trans Atlantic.” Live recordings were made at their performances at The Venue in London (two shows), Theatre Le Palace in Paris, and The Bottom Line in New York.
Sometimes, when you mix several disparate flavors together, you get something that tastes like mud. Occasionally, though, you’ll stumble across something delightful that you never previously knew existed. Regarding music, it’s admittedly easier to lean toward the latter outcome. When you start mixing genres, it’s usually a safe bet that you’ll get something that’s at least listenable. When bands like Khruangbin started getting wider airplay, many labelled them “global party music” because they blended various sounds from different parts of the planet into a good time. This is also what German jazz act Muito Kaballa is doing on their fifth album, Tomorrow a Flower. It’s a sharply more pop-oriented affair than what they’ve previously done. However, by stepping in that…
The 6th studio album by Florence + The Machine, 12 new songs + 4 exclusive Chamber Versions.
Since the release of their groundbreaking debut album Lungs in 2009, alt-rock group Florence + The Machine have not only carved their own space in the modern music scene – they have established their own unique world. A sonic and aesthetic domain fueled by rage, the divine feminine and the comfort of witchcraft, Florence + The Machine have become synonymous with the carnal, primal and unknown.
Fronted by the one and only Florence Welch, Florence + The Machine are preparing for the release of their sixth studio album Everybody Scream, out via Polydor Records. The album is destined for a Halloween release…
Following the release of his seventh studio album A Modern Day Distraction last year, Jake Bugg is back with a very special deluxe repack of the celebrated record. Following the release of the first single Never Said Goodbye Jake releases Oblivious previously unreleased and written during the spring 0f 2025 it’s an up tempo celebratory slice of British guitar pop which resonates perfectly for the sound of our post Oasis summer. British guitar music has never sounded so good. Jake headlined packed out UK dates across the summer and will be doing instores to support the album, whilst also headlining the RadioX event on Oct 3rd 13 years and seven albums into his career, A Modern Day Distraction cements Jake as one of the UK’s most established and enduring songwriters in the UK.
…After a decade of remarkable releases, Exzald S (Sarah Foulquiere) is finally ready to unveil her debut solo album ~ not counting the collaborative Serene Transfer Scheme, lodged in a unique steel box. The fantastic art ~ also by the artist ~ is an invitation to enter into a fabulous science fictional world. On Irisdesc, Exzald S continues to map the terrain of a planet only she knows, sending samples of her voice into space as if each were a passenger on Voyager‘s golden record. Words are secondary to expression, sucked into whirlpools of electronic sound.
While there are other travelers in the same sonic galaxy ~ Katarina Gryvul, for example whose recent work also appears on the Subtext label ~ no others share her planet. This is because…
Sébastien Betbeder’s comedy-drama L’Incroyable Femme Des Neige (The Incredible Snow Woman) looks like a lot of fun based on the trailer, but don’t judge the film score by the trailer music. What Ensemble 0 (Sylvain Chauveau, Stéphane Garin & Joël Mérah) have composed is something tonally different: more subdued, as lighthearted as falling snow.
…The tracks are as brief as flurries, the shortest only eleven seconds, and even the longest coming up just short of two and a half minutes. There’s little time to appreciate one before the next, but tougher they establish a playful mood.
The LP begins peacefully, with soft piano joined by swiftly expanding orchestral elements. “Les Grands Espaces” draws the listener in,…
Howl for More is Antony Hurley’s follow-up album to Quiet Rooms, which was released in 2022.
The songs were written by Hurley on his travels between Southern Italy, Mexico and eventually his native Kent. It has a very languid, serene overall feel to it. The supporting material suggests that the core of the album reflects the fragmentary nature of travel.
The album opens with ‘Awakening’, which is a very enjoyable instrumental with dreamy synths, which sets the mood. This is followed by ‘Dans Song’, which skipping along very pleasantly is as upbeat as the album gets. Hurley’s vocals are very laid back over a nice, comfortable beat. On a number of tracks, he is joined by a female vocalist who is mixed very far back, which gives…
In the novel Barney’s Version, Mordecai Richler wrote of Montreal that “its salvation [is] the continuing devotion to pleasure by our movers and shakers.” The city exudes a self-assured, continental coolness, and its relative affordability makes it admirably hospitable to its artists. But Richler is right that this coolness takes effort; it’s an act of devotion rather than a natural endowment to the Québécois.
Hélène Barbier is one such devoted mover and shaker. Relocating to Montreal from France some 10-plus years ago, she’s put in the work: first with the lo-fi punk outfit Moss Lime and then as co-founder of label/zine/all-around scene-saver Celluloid Lunch, alongside her equally industrious husband Joe Chamandy of…
Hyloxolos is the expansive and surprising new psych-rock supergroup featuring Dave Harrington (Darkside), Peter Matthew Bauer (The Walkmen), Dylan Carlson (Earth), avant-garde instrumentalist & drummer Dylan Fujioka (Meatbodies) and Otis Bauer (Trench) on bass.
This album, like the founding of the band itself, was birthed last year over an intense 48 hour period of writing and recording at 64sound in Los Angeles with engineer Tyler Karmen (Bat for Lashes, Devendra Banhart). The massive walls of sound, rolling swells and long, winding passages unfold deliberately, in heavy, kaleidoscopic waves. These six tracks are the sound of an inspired group of strangers cleaving something new out of the ether on arrival. The first notes of…